Appeals court removes judge in sex discrimination suit

A federal appeals court in Chicago has removed U.S. District Court Judge Milton Shadur from a sex discrimination case, citing the judge's “unmistakable (and to us incomprehensible) tone of derision.”

Judge Richard Posner wrote in an opinion for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the tone pervaded the opinion explaining Shadur's dismissal of a case filed by professional driver Maura Anne Stuart in December 2013. Stuart alleged that her union did not refer her for well-paid jobs driving for movie and television productions.

Shadur, 90, dismissed the case without giving the Stuart the opportunity to amend her lawsuit. He wrote “that she knew full well of the 'boys club' (male-only) situation that existed in the Movie/Trade Show Division . . . None of the things about which she now complains . . . was a mystery to her.” Because of that, he held that she should have filed her lawsuit sooner.

“But so what?” Posner wrote. “There is no rule that a plaintiff who has been repeatedly discriminated against by her employer cannot challenge any of the discriminatory acts under Title VII unless she files her (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) charge within 300 days after the first such act.”